Movies like Cuartelazo (1977)
The best movies like Cuartelazo (1977) are Fireflies at El Mozote (2025), Outlaws - For Greater Glory (2012) and Brothers Under Fire (2026). If Cuartelazo hooked you with its history and action, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedSeven Samurai (1954)8.5/10 from 4,452 votes
- NewestLess of a Stranger (2026)Released 2026
- In SpanishFireflies at El Mozote (2025)Also in Spanish
Fireflies at El Mozote (2025)
A boy seeks revenge after surviving El Mozote massacre in El Salvador, where government forces killed his family and destroyed his village - the deadliest civilian massacre in modern Latin America.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisOutlaws - For Greater Glory (2012)
A chronicle of the Cristeros War (1926-1929), which was touched off by a rebellion against the Mexican government's attempt to secularize the country.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBrothers Under Fire (2026)
Captain Jordan Wright's squadron on leave for a wedding in Mexico encounters a murderous cartel. As Jordan tries to lead survivors to safety, war erupts between his squad and the cartel, forcing him into a battle to save his men.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Red Virgin (2024)
Hildegart is conceived and educated by her mother Aurora to be the woman of the future, to become one of the most brilliant minds of Spain in the 1930s and one of the European references on female sexuality.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOperation Ogre (1979)
Spain, 1973. Dictator Francisco Franco has ruled the country since 1939 with an iron fist; but he is now a very old and sick man. The future of the weakened regime is in danger. Admiral Carrero Blanco is his natural successor. The Basque terrorist gang ETA decides that he must die to prevent the dictatorship from continuing.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMan on Fire (2004)
Jaded ex-CIA operative John Creasy reluctantly accepts a job as the bodyguard for a 10-year-old girl in Mexico City. They clash at first, but eventually bond, and when she's kidnapped he's consumed by fury and will stop at nothing to save her life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFirebrand (2024)
Katherine Parr, the sixth wife of King Henry VIII, is named regent while the tyrant battles abroad. When the king returns, increasingly ill and paranoid, Katherine finds herself fighting for her own survival.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisArgentina 1985 (2022)
In the 1980s, a team of lawyers takes on the heads of Argentina's bloody military dictatorship in a battle against odds and a race against time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSeeking Justice (2011)
After his wife is assaulted, a husband enlists the services of a vigilante group to help him settle the score.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Clan (2015)
In Argentina, between 1982 and 1985, the Puccios, a well-established family of San Isidro, an upper-class suburb of Buenos Aires, kidnap several people and hold them as hostages for a ransom.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Alamo (2004)
Based on the 1836 standoff between a group of Texan and Tejano men, led by Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie, and Mexican dictator Santa Anna's forces at the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisMexicali (2026)
A former special forces contractor is forced out of retirement as an avocado farmer in Mexico when local gangsters try to force him and his family off their farm.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisViva Zapata! (1952)
The story of Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata, who led a rebellion against the corrupt, oppressive dictatorship of president Porfirio Díaz in the early 20th century.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSAS: Red Notice (2021)
An off-duty SAS soldier, Tom Buckingham, must thwart a terror attack on a train running through the Channel Tunnel. As the action escalates on the train, events transpire in the corridors of power that may make the difference as to whether Buckingham and the civilian passengers make it out of the tunnel alive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & action
SnoozefestMovies like thisBunraku (2010)
In a world with no guns, a mysterious drifter, a bartender and a young samurai plot revenge against a ruthless leader and his army of thugs, headed by nine diverse and deadly assassins.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
SnoozefestMovies like this40 Acres (2025)
Hailey Freeman and her family are the last descendants of African American farmers who settled in rural Canada after the Civil War. In a famine-decimated near future, they now struggle to safeguard their farm, as they make one last stand against a vicious militia hell-bent on taking their 40 Acres.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAl Capone (1959)
In this unusually accurate biography, small-time hood Al Capone comes to Chicago at the dawn of Prohibition to be the bodyguard of racketeer Johnny Torrio. Capone's rise in Chicago gangdom is followed through murder, extortion, and political fraud. He becomes head of Chicago's biggest "business," but moves inexorably toward his downfall and ignominious end.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Marksman (2021)
Jim Hanson’s quiet life is suddenly disturbed by two people crossing the US/Mexico border – a woman and her young son – desperate to flee a Mexican cartel. After a shootout leaves the mother dead, Jim becomes the boy’s reluctant defender. He embraces his role as Miguel’s protector and will stop at nothing to get him to safety, as they go on the run from the relentless assassins.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCarlos (2010)
The story of Venezuelan revolutionary, Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, who founded a worldwide terrorist organization and raided the OPEC headquarters in 1975 before being caught by the French police.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSky High (2020)
A commentary on Spanish society dressed as a thriller about the misadventures of a gang of young petty criminals after the real estate crash.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBandit Queen (1994)
Born a lower-caste girl in rural India's patriarchal society, "married" at 11, repeatedly raped and brutalized, Phoolan Devi finds freedom only as an avenging warrior, the eponymous Bandit Queen. Devi becomes a kind a bloody Robin Hood; this extraordinary biographical film offers both a vivid portrait of a driven woman and a savage critique of the society that made her.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGuns of the Magnificent Seven (1969)
When Mexican revolutionary leader Quintero is left to rot in jail by the forces of President Diaz, it's up to his subordinate, Max, to bust him out. With $600 in hand, he crosses the border into America and hires Chris Adams, a mercenary of considerable skill, who uses the rest of the cash on more hired guns. After the team is rounded out by experts on close-combat fighting, explosives, and knife-throwing, they set off to free Quintero.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisDownfall (2004)
In April of 1945, Germany stands at the brink of defeat with the Russian Army closing in from the east and the Allied Expeditionary Force attacking from the west. In Berlin, capital of the Third Reich, Adolf Hitler proclaims that Germany will still achieve victory and orders his generals and advisers to fight to the last man. When the end finally does come, and Hitler lies dead by his own hand, what is left of his military must find a way to end the killing that is the Battle of Berlin, and lay down their arms in surrender.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & history
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisSeven Samurai (1954)
A samurai answers a village's request for protection after he falls on hard times. The town needs protection from bandits, so the samurai gathers six others to help him teach the people how to defend themselves, and the villagers provide the soldiers with food.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Conscience (2021)
Petrograd, Soviet Union, 1920s. Boris Letush, devastated by a personal tragedy, feels the need to put his conscience and his principles before the demands of the cruel system he serves, where law and justice are systematically ignored.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & history
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
Two jobless Americans convince a prospector to travel to the mountains of Mexico with them in search of gold. But the hostile wilderness, local bandits, and greed all get in the way of their journey.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisLess of a Stranger (2026)
As the leader of Polish rock band Lady Pank, Jan Borysewicz shapes a generation with his music, while a string of family tragedies shapes him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Challenge (2005)
Welcome to the future. Civilization has been obliterated by natural catastrophes and global economic collapse. In the rotting skeletons of once great cities, the remnants of mankind struggle to survive under the brutal reign of vicious warlords who rule by fear and the power of the fist. The only hope for a courageous band of street urchins is the brave fighter Jonas, the last surviving keeper of the secrets of an ancient martial arts dynasty. Jonas must challenge the heartless Bosco in a fight for freedom or death ... only then can he become master of mankind's destiny.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
The Jewel of the Nile (1985)
Joan Wilder is thrust back into a world of murder, chases, foreign intrigue... and love. This time out she's duped by a duplicitous Arab dignitary who brings her to the Middle East, ostensibly to write a book about his life. Of course, he's up to no good, and Joan is just another pawn in his wicked game. But Jack Colton and his sidekick Ralph show up to help our intrepid heroine save the day.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPerfect (2013)
The perfect killing machine is reprogrammed to think and feel.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Cuartelazo?
The closest matches to Cuartelazo are Fireflies at El Mozote (2025), Outlaws - For Greater Glory (2012) and Brothers Under Fire (2026). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Cuartelazo?
Start with Fireflies at El Mozote (2025), the closest match to Cuartelazo.
What is the highest-rated movie like Cuartelazo?
Seven Samurai (1954), rated 8.5/10 by 4,452 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Cuartelazo?
Less of a Stranger (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Spanish movies like Cuartelazo?
Yes: Fireflies at El Mozote (2025), The Red Virgin (2024) and Operation Ogre (1979).
How are movies similar to Cuartelazo chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Cuartelazo, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.